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ALVMNVS  BOOK  FVND 


THE   LIFTED  CUP 


THE  LIFTED  CUP 


BY 
JESSIE  13.   HI  1TEN HOUSE 

AUTHOR   OF   u  THE  DOOR   OF   DREAMS  "5   EDITOR  OF 
"THE   LITTLE  BOOK   OF   MODERN    VERSE."    ETC. 


BOSTON    AND    NEW    YORK 

HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN    COMPANY 

(Cfcz  ftifccrsidc  press  Cambridge 

1921 


COPYRIGHT,    1921,  BY  JESSIE    B.    KITTENHOUSE 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 


/  lift  it  up  again  to  you, 

This  cup  you  poured  for  me, 

As  one  before  (in  altar  lifts 
rDie  cup  of  sanctity. 

77/7,9  deep,  full  cup,  tliis  holy  cup, 
Your  lips  have  touched  and  mine, 

Is  mystical,  for  you  have  turned 
'Die  water  into  ivine. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

THANKS  are  due  to  the  editors  of  Harper  s  Mag 
azine,  McClures  Magazine,  Good  Housekeeping, 
Ainslefs  Magazine,  and  The  Kmart  8et  for  permis 
sion  to  reprint  poems  which  originally  appeared  in 
their  pages. 


CONTENTS 

I 

THE  SECRET  3 
u  WE  WHO  GIVE  OUR  HEARTS  IN  SPRING  "         4 

.THE  HOURS  5 

CONFESSION  6 

THE  CAPTIVE  7 

IN  SOME  TO-MORROW  8 

THE  PASSING  JUNE  9 

TRANSFORMATION  10 

UNSUNG  1 1 

II 

THE  STAR  15 

UNREST  16 

THE  DREAM  17 

PROTEST  1 8 

THE  ALTAR  19 

Two  THAT  PASS  2O 

"FAME  AND  THE  MUSE"  21 

SEVEN   SONGS  22 

THE  MIRACLE  23 
ix 


CONTENTS 

THE  WALL  24 

THE  HAUNTED  HEART  25 

THE  VEIL  26 

III 

THE  WATERFALL  29 

MARSH-GRASS  3O 

APPLE-TREES  3 1 

IN  THE  GREEN  MOUNTAINS  32 

UNVEILED  33 

VISION  34 

ONE  STAR  35 

THE  GREEN  TREE  IN  THE  FALL  36 

IN  WHATSOEVER  STATE  37 

THE  SNARE  38 

THE  DRAGON-FLY  39 

IV 

PRESENCE  43 

THE  AVENUE  45 

THE  QUEST  46 


THE  DOOR  49 

PRESCIENCE  5O 

REVISITED  5 1 


CONTENTS 

TRANSIENCE  52 

THE  FESTAL  HEART  53 

TO-DAY  54 

MY  SONGS  55 

THE  RADIANT  Loss  56 

POSSESSION  57 


THE  LIFTED  CUP 

I 


THE   LIFTED   CUP 

i 
THE   SECRET 

I  GO  in  vesture  spun  by  hands 

Upon  no  loom  of  earth, 
I  dwell  within  a  shining  house 

That  has  no  walls  nor  hearth; 

I  live  on  food  more  exquisite 

Than  honey  of  the  bee, 
More  delicate  than  manna 

It  falls  to  nourish  me; 

But  none  may  see  my  shining  house, 

Nor  taste  my  food  so  rare, 
And  none  may  see  my  moon-spun  robe 

Nor  my  star-powdered  hair. 


WE  WHO   GIVE   OUR   HEARTS 
IN   SPRING" 

WE  who  give  our  hearts  in  Spring, 

Putting  all  the  old  life  by, 
We  shall  start  with  everything 

Keen  and  glad  beneath  the  sky. 

We  shall  know  the  urge  of  grass 
Parting  each  detaining  clod, 

Know  the  one  sweet  day  they  pass  — 
Flowers,  the  spirit  of  the  sod. 

We  are  caught  into  the  flame 
Where  the  golden  fire  runs, 

All  its  ardor  is  the  same, 
In  the  flesh  and  in  the  suns. 


THE   HOURS 

You  can  enchant  the  hours  for  me 

So  that  they  go  —  I  know  not  where, 

Save  only  they  are  fleet  as  birds 
That  flash  through  sunlit  air. 

And  all  the  hours  that  lie  between  — 
Oh,  you  have  put  on  them  a  ban, 

So  that  they  creep  through  parching  wastes 
Like  any  caravan ! 


CONFESSION 

HEAR  the  words  that  I  would  speak, 
Take  the  kiss  that  I  would  give, 

If  Life,  the  long-withholding, 
Should  one  day  bid  us  live, 

But  I  bear  a  coward's  heart, 
Thinking  only  of  the  pain 

When  hands  that  clasp  so  closely 
Shall  be  unclasped  again. 


THE   CAPTIVE 

ONLY  a  day  ago,  it  seems, 

The  world  was  a  wide,  wide  place, 
And  all  my  thoughts  could  wander  far 

On  the  four  winds  of  space. 

But  now  my  thoughts  are  captive  birds 
That  have  no  will  for  flight, 

You  shut  them  fast  within  your  heart 
All  on  an  April  night. 


IN  SOME   TO-MORROW 

ROMAN  ways  shall  know  our  feet 
Sometime  in  a  golden  Spring 

When  these  hours  sweet  and  fleet 
Shall  be  but  remembering. 

Resting  in  the  ilex  shade 

Of  some  path  that  Shelley  knew, 
I  shall  no  more  be  afraid 

To  be  true,  as  Life  is  true. 

And  at  evening  when  we  stand 

In  the  flower-scented  air 
Rising  always  from  that  land 

Like  an  incense  fine  and  rare,  — 

Lifted  from  the  world  apart, 

Hushed  so  deep  from  frets  and  harms, 
Beauty  purging  all  my  heart,  — 

I  shall  turn  unto  your  arms. 


THE   PASSING   JUNE 

I  AM  shut  in  as  June  goes  by. 

And  can  but  see  one  little  tree 
Tossing  its  new  leaves  to  the  sky 

With  the  old  ecstasy. 

And  of  the  sky  itself  I  see 
Only  a  curving  arc  of  blue, 

That  brings  the  larkspur  dawn  to  me 
And  holds  the  evening  true. 

I  am  shut  in  as  June  goes  by, 
But  every  day  you  come  to  me, 

And  I  am  glad  to  lose  the  sky 
And  every  dancing  tree. 


TRANSFORMATION 

I  SHALL  be  beautiful  when  you  come  back, 
With  beauty  that  is  not  of  lips  nor  eyes, 
And  you  will  look  at  me  with  swift  surprise 

Seeing  in  me  that  loveliness  I  lack. 

And  you  will  wonder  how  this  beauty  grew, 
In  all  the  restless  clamor  of  the  days, 
Not  knowing  that  I  walk  in  cloistered  ways 

Bearing  within  one  rapt,  still  thought  of  you. 


10 


UNSUNG 

THE  songs  I  have  not  sung  to  you 
Will  wake  me  in  the  night 

And  hover  in  the  dark  like  birds 
Whose  wings  are  tipped  with  light. 

Like  birds  with  restless,  eager  wings 
That  quiver  for  their  flight, 

The  songs  I  have  not  sung  to  you 
Will  wake  me  in  the  night. 


11 


II 


II 

THE   STAR 

You  were  aloof  as  a  star  in  space 
That  holds  alone  its  charted  way, 

You  felt  the  cold  and  stellar  air 
Where  winds  of  heaven  play. 

But  now  I  know  the  lonely  God 

Who  made  all  things  from  His  desire, 

Gave  to  the  star  the  whitest  flame 
Because  its  heart  is  fire. 


15 


UNREST 

Now  I  shall  know  unrest  again, 
And  all  my  heart  that  was  so  still 

Will  beat  in  me  like  troubled  tides 
And  urge  me  to  its  will. 

Now  joy,  like  an  ecstatic  flame, 
Will  light  the  dark  about  my  bed 

But  with  the  morning  I  shall  know 
That  it  was  pain  instead. 


16 


THE  DREAM 

BEFORE  I  knew  that  you  would  come, 
Before  I  knew  that  you  would  go, 

I  dreamed  it  all  with  the  prescience 
That  one  in  dreams  may  know. 

You  gave  to  me  one  wild  sweet  kiss 
That  pierced  me  with  a  joy  above 

The  joy  of  any  other  kiss, 
For,  oh,  I  dreamed  it  love! 


PROTEST 

ONCE  to  you  a  woman  sang, 
Craving  love  a  human  thing, 

"  Throne  me  not  so  high,  my  King ! 
In  my  heart  her  message  rang. 

But  lest  love  should  sink  and  tire 
With  his  wings  caught  in  a  mesh, 

I  would  cry,  against  the  ftesh, 
"  Throne  me  higher,  higher !  " 


18 


THE   ALTAR 

BETWEEN  our  lips  a  ghostly  thing 
Escapes  and  flies  on  noiseless  wing, 
It  is  my  soul  that  would  not  mate 
With  your  soul  at  the  outer  gate, 
But  sought  the  still  and  hidden  shrine 
Where  pale  lights  bum  to  the  divine, 
My  soul  that  could  not  worship  there 
Because  it  found  the  altar  bare. 


19 


TWO  THAT   PASS 

WE  were  but  as  two  that  pass 
With  a  lingering  word, 

Yet  for  long  its  echoing 
In  my  heart  I  heard. 

Now  you  come  and  speak  a  word 

Passionate  and  dear, 
Then  to-morrow  you  will  go 

And  leave  me  wondering  here. 


20 


"FAME  AND   THE   MUSE" 

FAME  and  the  muse  you  would  not  yield, 
For  love  was  but  a  transient  thing, 

And  so  love  waits  above  your  door 
With  outspread  wing. 

For  he  must  seek  another  one 

Who  will  not  his  high  gift  refuse, 

Since  love  alone  can  touch  to  fire 
Fame  and  the  muse. 


SEVEN   SONGS 

SEVEN  songs  I  made  for  you 

In  the  briefest  days; 
Seven  songs  I  made  for  you, 

Longing  for  your  praise. 

Not  of  joy  these  fragile  songs; 

Oftener  of  pain ; 
But  the  pain  is  joy,  since  you 

Give  me  song  again  ! 


22 


THE   MIRACLE 

THEY  told  me  miracles  had  gone 

The  way  of  childish  tales, 
And  that  to  call  them  back  again 

Not  any  dream  avails. 

It  may  be  so  to  duller  folk 

Who  do  not  know  like  me 
How  cold  gray  skies  may  break  to  rose 

And  thrill  with  prophecy. 


23 


THE   WALL 

Now  we  two  are  heart  to  heart, 

O  most  dear  of  all, 
Who  were  held  so  long  apart 

By  the  sundering  wall. 

But  so  suddenly  it  fell, 

At  the  final  touch, 
We  are  dazed  and  cannot  tell 

If  we  hope  too  much. 

We  would  wait  to  know  the  sum 

Of  our  joy  and  pain  — 
But  what  if  shadowy  hands  should  come 

And  build  the  wall  again  ? 


24 


THE   HAUNTED   HEART 

I  AM  not  wholly  yours,  for  I  can  face 

A  world  without  you  in  the  years  to  be, 
And  think  of  love  that  has  been  given  me 

By  other  men,  and  wear  it  as  a  grace; 

Yes,  even  in  your  arms  there  is  a  space 
That  yet  might  widen  to  infinity, 
And  deep  within  your  eyes  I  still  can  see 

Old  memories  that  I  cannot  erase. 

But  let  these  ghostly  tenants  of  the  heart 

Stay  on  unchallenged  through  the  changing  days 
And   keep  their  shadowy  leaseholds  without 

fear, 

Then  if  the  hour  should  come  when  we  must  part, 
We  know  that  we  shall  go  on  haunted  ways, 
Each  to  the  end  inalienably  dear. 


THE   VEIL 

LET  the  last  veil  remain  between  us  two, 

That  we  may  keep  love  still  a  strange  fair  thing 
Which  comes  each  day  with  a  new  marvelling 

And  goes  each  night  to  dreams  as  fair  and  new. 

Leave  still  unsaid  the  dearest  word  of  all, 
That  I  may  wait  more  eagerly  to  hear, 
But  each  day  speak  a  word  more  deep  and  dear 

That  shall  foretell  the  dearest  word  of  all. 


26 


Ill 


Ill 

THE   WATERFALL 

I  WENT  to  see  a  waterfall 

When  days  were  dull  of  song, 

And  to  its  jubilant  wild  voice 
I  listened  deep  and  long. 

I  thought  that  it  would  loose  my  dreams, 

But,  ah,  it  could  not  free 
My  bound  heart,  for  it  sang  so  loud 

It  drowned  the  song  in  me. 


29 


MARSH. GRASS 

I  SAW  the  marsh-grass  blowing ; 

It  took  me  far  away ; 
For  I  was  bom  where  marsh-grass 

Was  endlessly  at  play. 

Its  ripples  were  the  gladdest  things 

That  one  could  ever  see, 
So  who  would  think  that  marsh-grass 

Would  bring  the  tears  to  me  ? 


30 


APPLE-TREES 

MY  childhood  held  a  fairy  sight  — 

A  thousand  apple-trees, 
All  pink  and  white  for  my  delight 

And  humming  with  the  bees. 

They  grew  upon  a  green  hillside, 

They  sweetened  all  the  air, 
They  spread  a  tent  of  blossoms  wide 

For  my  pavilion  there. 

I  broke  the  branches  at  my  will, 

There  was  so  vast  a  store; 
From  out  my  arms  the  sprays  would  spill, 

But  there  were  always  more. 

Now  I  go  out  from  city  ways 

To  see  the  apple-tree, 
For  if  I  miss  her  flowering  days 

The  year  goes  ill  with  me. 


31 


IN  THE   GREEN   MOUNTAINS 

I  DARE  not  look  away 

From  beauty  such  as  this, 
Lest,  while  my  glance  should  stray, 

Some  loveliness  I  miss. 

The  trees  might  choose  to  print 
Their  shadow  on  the  lake; 

The  windless  air  might  glint 
With  aspen  leaves  that  shake. 

Over  the  mountains  there 

A  thin  blue  veil  might  drift ; 

Then  in  a  moment  rare 

This  thin  blue  veil  might  lift. 

Ah,  I  must  pay  good  heed 

To  beauty  such  as  this, 
Lest,  in  some  hour  of  need, 

Its  loveliness  I  miss. 


32 


UNVEILED 

TO-DAY  the  hills  put  off  their  haze 
And  stand  so  green  and  clear 

That  every  peak  remote  and  strange 
Is  intimate  and  near. 

I  can  make  out  the  very  trees 
That  mass  upon  their  sides, 

And  look  deep  into  the  white  cloud 
That  swift  above  them  rides. 

But,  oh,  I  would  not  have  them  stand 
Unveiled  by  blowing  air; 

Give  me  the  blue,  blue  mists  again 
That  make  them  far  and  fair ! 


33 


VISION 

I  CAME  to  the  mountains  for  beauty, 
And  I  find  here  the  toiling  folk, 

On  sparse  little  farms  in  the  valleys, 
Wearing  their  days  like  a  yoke. 

White  clouds  fill  the  valleys  at  morning ; 

They  are  round  like  great  billows  at  sea, 
And  roll  themselves  up  to  the  hill-tops, 

Still  round  as  great  billows  can  be. 

The  mists  fill  the  valleys  at  evening  ; 

They  are  blue  as  the  smoke  in  the  fall, 
And  spread  all  the  hills  with  a  tenuous  scarf 

That  touches  the  hills  not  at  all. 

These  lone  folk  have  looked  on  them  daily, 
Yet  I  see  in  their  faces  no  light; 

Oh,  how  can  I  show  them  the  mountains 
That  are  round  them  by  day  and  by  night ! 


34 


ONE    STAR 

ONE  star  over  the  mountains 

Comes  earlier  than  all, 
And  waits  alone  in  the  solemn  sky 

Until  the  darkness  fall. 

It  parts  the  mist  before  it, 

It  sheds  a  golden  light, 
It  watches  while  the  evening  melts 

Into  the  purple  night. 

One  star  over  the  mountains, 

Eternal  and  yet  new, 
One  star  over  the  mountains  — 

My  thought  of  you. 


35 


THE  GREEN  TREE  IN  THE  FALL 

DID  you  forget  to  bud  in  Spring, 

O  Green  Tree  in  the  Fall, 
That  now  you  wear  these  fresh  young  leaves 

As  for  a  coronal  ? 

All  of  your  mates  within  the  wood 

Are  in  the  crimson  leaf, 
They  had  their  swift,  enamored  spring, 

Their  summertime  too  brief. 

But  you  —  what  chance  befell  that  you 

Were  cheated  of  the  Spring, 
That  now  you  cling  so  fast  to  leaves 

Wherein  no  bird  will  sing  ? 

My  heart  is  with  you,  little  tree, 

For  I  was  cheated  too, 
And  now  I  grasp  at  what  I  missed 

And  cling  as  fast  as  you. 


36 


IN    WHATSOEVER    STATE 

I  AM  rebuked,  O  Beauty, 
That  I  have  murmured  so, 

When  I  see  the  stony  places 
Where  yellow  daisies  grow. 

Or  when  I  see  the  milkweed, 
In  a  tangled  country  lane, 

Unfold  her  sea-shell  blossoms 
To  call  the  bee  again, — 

I  know  I  need  not  trouble 
To  seek  another  place, 

If  I  have  aught  of  beauty 
To  offer  up  as  grace. 


37 


THE   SNARE 

MANY  birds  will  fly  away 
From  the  cages  that  I  build., 

Yet  if  one  shall  sing  and  stay, 
I  have  all  the  joy  I  willed. 

Many  songs  are  in  the  air, 
Flitting  like  evasive  birds, 

Ah,  if  I  but  one  may  snare 
In  the  cage  of  words. 


38 


THE   DRAGON-FLY 

THE  day  was  set  to  a  beautiful  theme 

By  the  blue  of  a  dragon-fly 
That  poised  with  his  air)7  wings  agleam 

On  a  flower,  as  I  passed  by. 

So  frail  and  so  lovely  —  a  touch  would  destroy  ; 

He  seemed  but  a  fancy,  a  whim ; 
Yet  this  gossamer  thing  is  a  breath  of  God's  joy, 

And  Life  is  made  perfect  in  him ! 


39 


IV 


IV 
PRESENCE 

I  WILL  go  back  to  Italy, 

For  well  I  know  that  there 
Your  feet  will  still  come  climbing 

A  worn,  accustomed  stair; 
And  we  will  stand  at  evening 

On  a  little  terrace  hung 
High  up  above  the  Arno, 

While  all  the  bridges  flung 
Across  the  wide,  dark  river 

Are  strung  with  golden  light, 
And  straight  before  us  rises 

Miniato's  jewelled  height. 

Then  in  late  summer  afternoons, 
Just  cooling  from  the  heat, 

We'll  go  again  exploring 
Each  little  narrow  street, 

And  rest  in  dim  old  churches 
And  watch  the  pictured  walls, 
43 


THE  LIFTED  CUP 

While  through  the  ancient,  hallowed  glass 
The  colored  sunlight  falls. 

But  I  will  not  go  near  the  North 

Nor  see  the  mountain  snows, 
Nor  look  upon  that  valley 

Where  the  dread  Piave  flows, 
Lest  they  should  dare  to  tell  me 

That  you  are  lying  there  — 
You  who  pervade  the  very  day 

Like  warm,  sun-lighted  air! 


THE  AVENUE 

IT  was  but  two  weeks  since  you  died, 
Yet  you  were  strange  and  far 

As  one  who  had  a  lifetime  dwelt 
Upon  an  alien  star,  — 

When  sudden  in  Manhattan  streets 
Your  presence  smote  me  through, 

You  had  so  loved  the  zest  of  life 
Upon  Fifth  Avenue! 


45 


THE  QUEST 

I  WOULD  go  soon,  for  if  I  stay 
You  will  have  gone  so  far 

I  cannot  find  you  in  that  place 
Where  the  most  radiant  are. 

And  all  eternity  will  be 

But  seeking  after  you, 
But  coming  to  some  gate  to  find 

That  you  have  just  passed  through, 


46 


V 
THE   DOOR 

THERE  was  a  door  stood  long  ajar 
That  one  had  left  for  me, 

While  I  went  trying  other  doors 
To  which  I  had  no  key. 

And  when  at  last  I  turned  to  seek 
The  refuge  and  the  light, 

A  gust  of  wind  had  shut  the  door 
And  left  me  in  the  night. 


49 


PRESCIENCE 

AH,  there  were  those  who  twined  their  wreaths 

From  buds  that  I  let  fall, 
So  rich  was  I  in  blossoming  time 

That  I  had  gifts  for  all; 

But  what  if,  when  the  day  is  chill 

And  flowers  forget  to  blow, 
I  should  go  begging  back  the  gifts 

I  gave  them  long  ago  ? 


50 


REVISITED 

You  and  I  came  down  here  once 

In  our  happiest  days, 
It  was  May  and  birds  were  singing 

On  the  budding  sprays. 

Youth  was  high  within  us  then, 

We  could  laugh  at  time, 
He  could  never  touch  us  two 

With  his  icy  rime. 

Now  the  boughs  are  black  and  bare, 
Snows  without  a  stain  — 

I  could  never  come  in  May 
When  life  was  quick  again. 


51 


TRANSIENCE 

DID  you  come  to  me,  indeed, 
And  will  you  come  again  ? 

I  know  it  but  as  leaves  may  know 
The  fresh,  keen  breath  of  rain  — 

Then  in  a  moment  in  the  sky 
The  sun  is  shining  plain. 

I  know  it  but  as  boughs  may  know, 
When  wild  birds  stop  in  flight, 

If  they  will  come  that  way  again 
Before  the  fall  of  night ; 

I  know  it  but  as  travellers  know 
Some  swift  and  lovely  sight. 


52 


THE  FESTAL  HEART 

BY  all  the  tests  of  human  will 
I  should  be  weary  now ; 

Yet  I  am  glad  as  any  bird 
That  sings  upon  a  bough. 

For  how  shall  weariness  prevail, 
Or  hold  me  in  its  thrall, 

When  daily  for  your  sake  I  keep 
An  inner  festival  ? 


53 


TO-DAY 

WHAT  will  it  matter  when  I  am  dead 
If  they  remember  or  forget  — 

Those  unborn,  whom  I  shall  not  know, 
Those  who  may  live  and  love  me  yet  ? 

What  will  it  matter  if  they  praise 
Or  if  they  treasure  some  word  I  say  ? 

But,  oh,  it  matters  so  very  much 

That  you  should  think  of  me  to-day ! 


54 


MY   SONGS 

I  SANG  my  songs  for  you  alone, 

But  all  the  others  heard, 
And  thought  that  I  had  sung  for  them 

Each  half-revealing  word ; 

And  on  the  four  winds,  back  to  me, 
Like  freight  of  winged  seed, 

Came  song  for  song  from  all  the  rest  — 
You  only  did  not  heed. 


55 


THE  RADIANT  LOSS 

OH,  I  have  lived  to  be  so  glad 

You  failed  me  long  ago, 
So  glad  you  cast  away  the  love 

That  I  had  lavished  so, 
So  glad  that  you  were  dull  and  blind, 

So  glad  you  did  not  know ! 

For  in  a  way  I  had  not  dreamed 

I  built  my  life  anew, 
And  all  the  structure  of  my  days 

Into  a  wonder  grew; 
And,  oh,  you  left  me  free  to  love 

A  greater  one  than  you ! 


56 


POSSESSION 

TiiFAr  all  may  go,  for  I  have  known  the  one 

Who  will  forever  stay, 
Though  each  day  tells  me  until  time  is  done 

That  he  has  gone  away, 

He  is  the  light  that  breaks  in  dawns  at  sea, 

The  dream  in  mountain  haze; 
He  is  the  soul  of  wistful  things  to  me 

In  all  the  still  procession  of  my  days. 


57 


tgfce  XUbcnsfoe  Jhrss 

CAMBRIDGE  •  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   •   S   •   A 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN     INITIAL    FINE    OF    25     CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $I.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


27  1933 


JUL    25*940 


LD  21-50m-l,'3 


48876-i 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


